Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!sco!mikeeb
From: mikeeb@sco.COM (Michael E. Bays)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A500 resets itself
Message-ID: <3356@scorn.sco.COM>
Date: 20 Mar 90 00:02:55 GMT
References: <1291@carroll1.cc.edu> <1961@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM>
Sender: news@sco.COM
Reply-To: mikeeb@sco.COM (Michael E. Bays)
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Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Lines: 88


first of all this guys mail is HILARIOUS!!!
thnx it really made my day.

anyway i guess ill throw my experience into the ring.
with two problems. i only did some of the technical work
on these so your on your own if you blow up your computer
attempting them, personnally i have my own amiga/guru do
the scary stuff.

monitors:
	i have a 1084. seems that the big hot
	(capcitor) i think thats what it is, its the thing
	that lives behind the heat sink, tends to ionized its
	solder connecting to the motherboard. i could see it
	arc periodicly when i opened it up and observed it hot.
	so i just resoldered that bit, that fixed all monitor snaping.

motherboard:
	i hate that damn fat agness chip.
	ive heard several people say that this worked for them
	and i know it worked for me.
	i had a vairety of problems----
	anyway before reseating the chip make sure all the 
	contact points are clean. THEN make sure that
	all the contacts are coming out the same distance ie:
	i had one contact point that was bent in about 2 millimeters
	further than the others once i did this wala!

disks:
	dirty disk heads cause the weirdest problems.
	i always clean them before proceding with other
	trouble shooting.

luck
me

In article <1961@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM> klein@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM (Tony Klein) writes:
>In article <1291@carroll1.cc.edu> plonka@carroll1.cc.edu (Dave Plonka) writes:
>>My Amiga 500 has become very tempermental lately. It just RESETS itself.
>>very similarly to a CTRL-AMIGA-AMIGA.
>Mine too, and its really PISSING ME OFF.
>
>>Sometimes it will happen 5 times in 10 minutes, other times it has been on
>>for hours straight with no problems.
>>It doesn't seem to be related to heat generation, since it is just as
>>likely to reset just after being turned on as it is hours later.
>And it always seems to 'zap' right when a disk is being written..or just
>BEFORE writing a bunch of edits out to disk..(Murphy's Law?)
>
>I have had it to the shop (he 'reseated the chips', the cure-all for A500 
>problems), I have reseated the chips myself (twice), I have disconnected 
>all the peripherals, it still has random crashes. I have checked the power
>supply.  I eventually discovered that if I leave it on all the time, I get 
>some relief.  It says booted for days at a time!  But then it crashes...
>
>>NOW, the important part (hopefully),
>>When it reboots after the reset, the CAPS-lock light is on, and can't be
>>shut off. Also the keyboard is disabled.
>Sometimes this happens to me, but not very often.  I can power cycle to make
>that one go away.
>
>>WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? 
>I'll tell you what it means to me: THE A500 SUCKS.  It's far and away the most
>UNRELIABLE computer I have ever used.  It is getting to the point where it is
>USELESS!  Every little 5 MINUTE JOB I wanna do turns into a 2 HOUR MARATHON
>DISK RECOVERY operation!   Followed by crashes DURING disk recovery 
>operations!!!  Followed by CRASHES during CRASHES!!! I COULD JUST SCREAM!! 
>AAAHHHHGG!!!!! 
>
>[Whew.  Sorry.  I feel better now. Excuse me.  Thanks.]
>[Pause while I unlock the caps and regain my composure.]
>
>Despite my wild and dangerous tone, I am not ready to smash my A500 into a 
>little pile of silicon just yet.  (soon,...) I would like to figure this out.
>
>My latest theory is that the random crashes are related to the monitor 
>'snapping' problem. I will look into that next, maybe get my monitor fixed, 
>or do it myself if I can find more details.
>.
-- 


                //-n-\\			Michael E. Bays
        _____---=======---_____		The Santa Cruz Operation
    ====____\   /.. ..\   /____====	(...!uunet!sco!mikeeb)
  //         ---\__O__/---         \\	
  \_\                             /_/